Planning and Making a Film: The filming weekend

We had secured the filming at the old Bristol Police station for the sunday, which accounted fro the majority of our film. However, we were not going to waste the Friday and the Saturday doing nothing, as we wanted to be completely prepared for the Sunday. As a group we had decided that we would be able to designate the whole of the Friday on getting all of the stills done. This was a very important element of the film as we were inspired by the short film shown to us in class called La Vie d'un Chien.

On the Friday we arranged with Ed to meet up at the campus to take a number of stills that we could use in the same way to the film above. Mark and myself both had SLR camera's which was handy as the other one could be taking pictures for the blogs as well as getting some potential back up pictures. Our first location was in the SU shop, where we wanted Ed to be snapped trying to take all of the coke off the shelves. This location was pretty hectic as we had actually scheduled to be there at the most busy part of the day...lunch time. We managed to get the shots that we needed though. We then moved onto the next location which was down in the library, as we had managed to get permission to use one of the office of the library workers. It was at this time that Mark actually needed to break away from this task in order to secure the lighting equipment for the Sunday. It was in this situation that it really helped having another SLR that I was able to competently use. After these pictures were taken We were able to call it a wrap for the day. I then went home and desaturated the pictures, to get a good idea of how they will look. The day was very relaxed, and was a good chance to actually get to know Ed, who was really nice. Looking back in hind sight, I think a little more thought could have gone into the schedule, as being in the SU shop in primetime made our task a bit more of a challenge. This was a small problem, especially compared to the ones we were to face on the filming day on the Sunday.

Anyway, on Saturday we had organized a time in the afternoon where all of the actors could get a change to meet each other, and go through the scripts. In the morning, we finished the stills which took place a victoria Park. It was also the time when we captured the sound for the opening. We first decided to get the stills for the sequence when Ed would chase the jogger in the park. We then went through a few run-throughs with just the sound, which we recorded straight into the sony Z1 which we had booked for the weekend. Everything in Victoria park went really well. The afternoon of rehearsals was also another great success as the actors went through the script, discussing and changing their lines to fit better. It was good to receive feedback from people who were not involved in the film, especially as they pointed out certain changes that we could make in the script. Obviously we didn't have to accept the changes, although in many cases we did. They were only little developments in slightly changed phrases. Myles and Elspeth went and got some food for the actors, to help break up the three hour rehearsal session. When everybody felt happy with the script we decided to call it a day.

The Nightmare on Sunday.

The sunday seemed to get off to a good start, as we managed to find our way to the location without any problems in a convoy. It was also fortunate that the parking on the Sunday was only £1, because this could have potentially been pretty expensive as we had three cars. The location was great, and we were given total freedom over what we did. The person who let us in was really helpful by helping us find props (tables ect). We seemed to breeze through the first few hours of filming, making great progress. We decided to call time for lunch, and gave ourselves an hour. However, when we returned back from lunch, everything seemed to go wrong. Firstly, as we were using Ciaren's Canon 7D, it meant that we did not have enough space to record onto his 16g memory card. He obviously accounted for this, and booked out a University laptop. However, when we tried to move the footage from the card onto the Uni laptop, the computer seemed to find it hard as many of the takes were very long and large. We tried Myles's laptop, but again it struggled and crashed. This was disastrous as it only left us with a few options.

Go and Buy a new card in Bristol.
Get Ciarens laptop from Bath.

The reason for Ciaren not bringing his laptop was down to the fact that he was not insured for the amount of his laptop and camera totaled together. He assumed that there would be no problem with the Uni computer and thought nothing else of it. This left us with the option of going into town and finding a new card, which was not ideal as the card would be so much more costly on the high street compared to the internet. Although this worry about the cost meant nothing as Ciaren and Gus both spent a good three hours walking around the whole of Bristol looking for the right card. It was Sunday after all, which meant that the possible retail shops that might have sold the card were closed. This was a frustrating three hours. There was little we could do apart from trying to delete bad takes, trying to make more room. I managed to get one of my friends to pick up Ciaren's laptop at his house in Bath, and drive it all the way to Bristol for us, obviously this did cost me, but trying to re-schedule another day with all the actors, crew and location was not really an option. After getting everything back on track, Ed needed to go back to Bath to go to work. This meant that we had to rush through his scenes and shots first. After he left, we then went on and all stayed much later than intended to get the filming done. We had to drop some of the shots on the shot-list, but got all of the important ones done.

Another disaster that happened was the tape recorder breaking. This rules out a number of shots that we wanted as some of the close ups of the tape player now have to be scraped, as we cant cut to it working from a shot where it is not on. This in affect also had some impact on the sound it was making. I am worried that this will bring some inconsistency in terms of verisimilitude.

When we finally got the film footage onto the laptop, I was truly amazed at the quality of the camera. The colors were so good, and it was crystal clear. When looking back over the events of the weekend, everything went to plan, apart from a small problem. This problem caused such a head ache though. I am very pleased and impressed with how we dealt with it, still managing to call it a wrap at the end of Sunday. Everybody did an amazing job! The commitment of the actors and the crew. Made me pleased to be in a group with people so committed.

Myles has made a good video highlighting the weekend.